Whether it’s about politics, sports, celebrities or everyday life, no one covers the news like Daily News. With award-winning writers and columnists, the newspaper brings you a variety of live national and local stories from the world’s greatest city, along with New York exclusives and the latest gossip and entertainment. No one covers the Yankees, Mets, and Giants like Daily News either.
Founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson, the Daily News was America’s first tabloid newspaper. It found a niche among commuters on the subway system, who found its smaller size easier to handle and navigate. The paper quickly became the largest in the country, reaching a peak of over a million subscribers by the end of the Roaring Twenties. The News’ success can be partially attributed to its sensational pictorial coverage, and willingness to go one step further than competitors in the pursuit of an attention-grabbing front page. For example, in 1928, a reporter strapped a camera to his leg to capture the image of Ruth Snyder being sent to the electric chair after murdering her husband; the following day’s Daily News featured the headline “DEAD!”
The News continued its run of success throughout the mid-century, and reached its peak circulation in 1947, when it was the nation’s largest newspaper. This was in large part due to its extensive use of photography; it was an early adopter of the Associated Press wirephoto service and had developed a huge staff of photographers. During this time, the paper also delved into controversial subjects such as political wrongdoing, such as the Teapot Dome Scandal, and social intrigue, such as the romance between Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII that led to his abdication.
As the decades rolled on, the News started to see a decline in its readership. Its heyday was long past by the 1980s, when it was losing $1 million a month. Its parent company, the Tribune Company, offered it for sale several times, but no buyers emerged. By the early 1990s, the Daily News was operating at a loss of over $70 million. The newspaper’s labor costs were extremely high; ten different unions made up the paper’s workforce.
In 1978, a multi-union strike shut down the newspaper for three months. The Tribune Company hired non-union workers to replace striking employees, which earned it a reputation as a union-buster. This would be the first of many strikes to hit the Daily News; it lost 145,000 subscribers during the strike. In September 1992, the Daily News was repurchased by the Tribune Publishing Company, which renamed it Tronc. The new owners went on a massive firing spree, and in 1994 the newspaper was reduced to a handful of editorial and sales people working in its old News Building at 450 West 33rd Street. Its circulation has never recovered to its former height.